Cop pulls gun on crowd amid tensions at Druid Hill Park

Noah Scialom

Noah Scialom

Evan Serpick

During a confrontation Sunday between police and a crowd of dirt bike riders and onlookers, one officer pulled out his gun and pointed it toward the crowd, an incident recorded by photographer Noah Scialom, a City Paper contributor, and posted to Instagram.

In the caption that accompanied the above photo, Scialom wrote, "On the left side of the frame, the officer pulled out his service weapon, yelling while he waved the gun around, and what you can't see is that he's pointing it in the direction of a fairly sizable group of people on the hillside of Druid Park, after a glass bottle had been thrown at the group of police officers and shattered on the ground. another officer immediately told him to put his fucking gun away."

In an interview, Scialom emphasized that the incident was isolated. "Overall, they handled it well," he said of police at the scene. "He was the only guy who was being crazy." Moments after the photo was taken, Scialom adds, the female officer looking at him said something to him and he put the gun away. "I can only imagine what would have happened if he had accidentally shot someone," Scialom adds. "There were people everywhere."

As the Sun reports, these confrontations have become a weekly event, as riders and onlookers gather each Sunday to showcase the skills of local dirt bike riders.

Baltimore police did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the incident on Sunday. We will update this post when they do.